A network for communications, including for cable television, phone, and internet data traffic, typically includes a base station, one or more head-ends, one or more intermediate hubs, and the subscriber facilities. The subscriber facilities typically represent the end of the line and include one or more modems, routers, and the consuming technology—phones, televisions, computers, laptops, electronic tablets, smartphones, InternetOfThings (IoT) devices, and other internet enabled devices. These devices can communicate over a network, such as a wireless local areas network (WLAN). WLANs can be established and serviced using a device called a Wireless Access Point (WAP). The WAP wirelessly couples all the devices of the network to one another and to the subscriber facility through which Internet, video, and television is delivered to the home. Most WAPs implement a communications standard such IEEE 802.11 for handling data communications among multiple competing devices for a shared wireless communication medium on a selected one of a plurality of communication channels. In a conventional network, data communications between internet enabled devices is associated with characteristics that can be utilized to infer properties of the transmission channel through which the data is transmitted. The inferred properties can be used to detect changes in a physical environment that includes the internet enabled devices. However, the characteristics associated with the data transmission between devices is not optimized for readily detecting changes in a physical environment.